Neither of these are found on the threads but here are two of my pet hates!

Many Saffies throw the word 'basically' around like salt on a packet of slap chips. Its 'Basically' we want to...', or 'Basically what happened', or 'Basically its too....'..and Im sure what they really mean is 'Im trying to sound like I know what Im talking about and I will, as soon as Ive managed to gather my thoughts'(Now where were they? )

Then there is 'y'know?' at the beginning or end of very sentence. 'Y'know I was just going to go shopping, but y'know there was no parking outside the shops so, I turned around and went home y'know?

He he..maybe a bit of an exageration and Im sure no one on this forum speaks like that.

'“When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.” The Peace Pilgrim.

Shame, there were a lot of South African expressions that confused the life out of me when I got here a few years ago. I can't verbalize any of them myself, because I have an American accent and people would look at me strangely.

Basically, SZ, is a noise word thrown out to give the speaker time to think about what to say. It has no meaning.

'Freezing' btw, is about 8-15 degrees C, and 'boiling' is anything above about 30.

Moose, izzit is pronounced eezurt here in CT.

Like I said, it is a mild form of surprise. A more urgent one is 'You lie!!!', or the less offensive 'you're joking', which are not meant as a sleight on you or your information, but the hearer is quite taken aback.

Some for our sexist police, 'chicks' & 'birds' are not necessarily those, but pet names for our angels, as is 'cherry' up the west coast.

I have sent an American forumite a phonetic list of Kruger name places, I think I should start a sticky for it. Could be interesting depending on your homeland & language.

Whatever (according to BB): "You are correct but I don't want to admit it".

Your idea about phonetic place names is BRILLIANT! You should most certainly start a sticky. Can you include KTP ones too? I still can't prononce 'Kgalagadi', although I own a National Geographic DVD, where it's pronounced like, 'Kuh-Gala-Gadi'. I can do that

The 2 that really struck me the first time I visited...Firstly "a helluva" as "This road's a helluva dead" meaning it's very quiet! And the other is what seems to be Saffies other favourite phrase.."Let's make a plan..."

Gemma

When I'm not in the Park, I'm thinking of it...Bittersweet Return to Paradise TR - Aug 2011

My question probably has little to do with South Africa english, but I would like to know why so few posters use the plural, especially noted in TRs. You see a pic of a herd of any animal and the description goes; 'we saw lots of giraffe, elephant, waterbuck, mongoose, rhino, hippo' etc.'

Dotty, that is a very good site, but it does not capture some gems, like "that side" or "the other side" which mean anywhere you are not. It could be across the room or across the world. The speaker knows exactly what they are talking about, but the listener is clueless.

Whatever (according to BB): "You are correct but I don't want to admit it".